Hopefully you’ve watched zeitgeist by now. Hopefully you were ready for it.

But hopefully you took it with a grain of salt.

Since watching it (and many others like it), I’ve been doing some homework on the other side. I’ve read some debunking 9/11 Conspiracy sites, which are particularly numerous. Unfortunately, just as there are some nutjobs advocating that 9/11 was an “inside job”, there are some wackos arguing against it. Watch Penn and Teller’s Bullshit episode on conspiracy theories if you want a good laugh.

A few thoughts:

  1. First of all, there is absolutely nothing wrong with questioning the accounts of that terrible, terrible day. It is in no way unpatriotic or offensive to reconsider the evidence and wonder why there seem to be inconsistencies. For the families of those who lost loved ones in those attacks, an ongoing investigation is a good thing, and forcing ourselves to forget what happened isn’t healthy. Blind trust in government and police versions of events is what leads to corruption in the first place.
  2. To say that “there is no way that the CIA or Bush or whoever could kill 3000 of its own people” is simply ignorant defensiveness. Believe what you want based on the evidence and by reading the reports. Don’t try to convince yourself that, at any point, the US Government and its spy operations give a shit about human life. They don’t - the families of more than 3000 American soldiers can attest to that, and that’s only since 2003.
  3. Lastly, stop making this illogical argument: “If it was a conspiracy theory, numerous people must have known about it, so why hasn’t anyone come forward?” Bullshit. If, as far-fetched as it may seem, people were somehow able to pull off 9/11 and then convince us all that it was a bunch of Islamic terrorists in a cave, I’m pretty damn sure they can keep a few mouths shut.

All that being said, I’m not sure I believe 9/11 conspiracy theories. I love them, get entertained by them, and send links to my favourites to all my friends. It’s a great time and you should find a few and check ‘em out.

There are tons. 7/7: Mind the Gap is about the July 7th bombing in London.

Zeitgeist has whole sections on Pearl Harbor, the Gulf of Tonklin (which a few years ago was officially recognized as untrue, despite it being the spark that led to the Vietnam War), and others. The opening forty minutes or so are dedicated to debunking Christianity, claiming that it is nothing but an extension of pagan solar worship, evolving through Egyptian and other mythologies.

Still, it seems pretty ridiculous that the official version of 9/11 was completely fabricated. For a little sanity, try this excellent Popular Mechanics debunking of the conspiracies. Reading it after watching something like 9/11: Loose Change is pretty interesting, although there are some assumptions made on both sides. Showing a scrap of mangled white metal isn’t “proof” that it was a plane that hit the Pentagon. If it was a plane, why can’t they release the numerous surveillance videos of it?

Either way, the very fact that this debate exists is testament to the empowering abilities of the internet and the defiance with which people will defend their government even if, we hope, they have nothing to gain from it.

I love this stuff, and thanks in part to my oscillation between immersion and skepticism, I will continue to follow it with fervor.

(Oh, and finally, whether or not you think Bush engineered that stuff or not, you know he clapped his hands and did a little dance a few days later, because he had his reason to drop a whole lotta bombs.)

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